THE ATHI PLAINS 
203 
After many laborious attempts—all in vain—as a last 
resource we tried an appeal to the known curiosity 
of the gnu. As the string of great shaggy beasts 
went prancing and capering along a slope 500 yards 
away, Hamisi and I threw ourselves down flat on the 
grass just before the animals took a slight fold in the 
THE SENTRY—WHITE-BEARDED GNUS. 
hill-face. We could then barely see their backs and 
wildly-whirling tails as they scampered along, half- 
hidden in the hollow beyond. The ruse, however, so 
far succeeded that the troop, pausing in mid-career, 
wheeled half round, dashed up the intervening slope 
and pulled up, facing us, on the crest. 
They now presented a fair shot at 300 to 350 yards; 
but Nemesis stood at my elbow, exacting the full price 
for that random shooting of the morning. It had 
